Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Today’s Opinions: Views Of The Health Law From Rove, Bachmann, Kondracke

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Rewards Friends, Punishes Enemies A primary task for the new Republican House majority is to undo as many of the pernicious effects of ObamaCare that it can. One of these effects is the spectacle of employers going hat-in-hand to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for waivers from some of the law's more onerous provisions (Karl Rove, 1/6).

The Wall Street Journal: A Modest Proposal On Kidney Donation Last week, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour sparked considerable controversy when he suspended the life sentences of two sisters-both convicted in 1994 for their part in an $11 armed robbery-if one donated a kidney to the other. ... the case got us thinking about a promising way to encourage one sector of the population, prisoners, to consider it. Here is the idea: A prisoner donates a kidney and receives compensation only when his or her sentence is complete (Dr. Sally Satel and Ira Brody, 1/6).

Roll Call: Let's Drop The Demagoguery On 'Death Panels' Really, there are two issues here - end-of-life counseling and 'rationing' - that ought to be debated separately. Both have big cost implications, but counseling also can be part of a cultural change, already under way, that leads terminally ill people and their families to choose a humane 'good death,' avoiding painful (and expensive) heroic measures to keep patients alive (Morton Kondracke, 1/6).

Star Tribune: Dayton Goes Unilateral On Health Care On Wednesday, (Gov. Mark Dayton) gave his approval to an expansion of medical assistance that will cost Minnesotans $384 million between now and 2014. ... Over time, the cost to Minnesota's budget will be crippling as it's been in states like New York and Massachusetts. By signing this executive order, Gov. Dayton has done a disservice to our state's voters by ignoring the lawmakers who were sent to St. Paul to represent them (Michele Bachmann, 1/5).

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